A Lake George Treasure: The Courthouse Gallery and Its Artistic Legacy
The entrance to the Courthouse Gallery at 1 Lower Amherst Street. All images courtesy Courthouse Gallery unless noted.
Visitors to the Lake George Arts Project’s Courthouse Gallery in the southern Adirondacks are often surprised to find a contemporary art gallery and an annual Jazz Festival in Lake George Village.
The Lake George Arts Project is the only year-round multi-arts organization in Lake George. It oversees the Courthouse Gallery and a performing arts arm that showcases a diverse range of artists from various music genres, making it unique in the area.
The mission of the Lake George Arts Project is to provide exposure and income opportunities for professional and emerging artists and to offer high-quality arts programming for the residents and visitors of the Lake George region.
Presenting exciting contemporary art exhibits year-round.
The Courthouse Gallery is a vibrant hub for creativity, hosting up to eight contemporary and modernist art exhibitions each year. The Lake George Arts Project invites artists to showcase their talents through a transparent open-call process twice a year. Notably, no submission fee is required.
A 2024 exhibit at Lake George Village’s Courthouse Gallery featured Nathan Meltz.
This inclusive approach highlights established artists and celebrates emerging talent, as the gallery proudly features an annual exhibit dedicated to local student artwork from the WSWHE BOCES Talent Unlimited Literary Arts Journal.
The Lake George Arts Project’s Courthouse Gallery is conveniently located in the heart of the Village at 1 Lower Amherst Street. It is nestled on the north side of the historic Courthouse building in the serene surroundings of Shepard Park, directly across from the popular Duffy’s Tavern.
The gallery welcomes art lovers during exhibition hours, Wednesday through Friday, from noon to 5 pm, and Saturday from noon to 4 pm. Additionally, the gallery enriches the community with its special SUNDAY ARTS sessions, held once a month from 1:00 to 4:00 PM, inviting all to experience the transformative power of art. Please visit the website for upcoming programs.
Almost 50 years of celebrating and promoting the arts in Lake George Village.
Established in 1977, the Arts Project was originally part of the Comprehensive Employment Training Act project (CETA), the first federally-funded artists employment program since the WPA in the 1930s. From 1977 until 198, programs included the Summer Concert Series and numerous community arts workshops, presentations, and fairs.
Sculptor David Smith was part of an early Lake George Arts Project sculpture show. Credit: Dreamstime.
One remarkable achievement during the CETA years was the Prospect Mountain Sculpture Show, an homage to sculptor David Smith (1906-1965), which opened in 1979. In 1940, Smith and his first wife, artist Dorothy Dehner, moved to Bolton Landing on Lake George and named the property Terminal Iron Works after the location of his previous studio in Brooklyn.
The Prospect Mountain Sculpture Show included Smith’s monumental steel sculptures and works by seventeen other sculptors working with welded metal, all installed along the Prospect Mountain Veterans Memorial Highway. The exhibition and its relationship to the beautiful mountains and lake landscape attracted national media acclaim. This set the tone for the Arts Project’s continued commitment to contemporary art.
The end of CETA in 1981 (and the consequent loss of six of seven employees) heralded a period of rethinking and rebuilding. In 1984, the Arts Project produced its first annual Jazz Weekend. It established an office and exhibition space in the 1845 courthouse building (home of the Lake George Historical Association) on the north side of Shepard Park.
Award winning Jazz at the Lake festival in Lake George Village.
The Courthouse Gallery opened in 1985 and marked the Arts Project’s return to year-round arts programming, featuring visual arts exhibitions, literary arts events (book signings, readings, and residencies), art workshops, and school programs. The Summer Concert Series continues in Shepard Park, along with the award-winning Jazz at the Lake Festival, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2024.
Beyond the canvas: The Lake George Arts Projects community collaborations.
Over the past few years, the Arts Project has created community collaborations with visual art and music. Jazz Around Town brings local jazz musicians to venues in Lake George Village during Jazz at the Lake weekend in September, and Project Local provides year-round exhibition opportunities for regional visual artists.
Getting creative at the SUNDAY ARTS program at the Courthouse Gallery on Amherst Street in Lake George Village.
School and group visits to the gallery are always welcome. Gallery programming has increased to include SUNDAY ARTS, a monthly gallery tour and art-making time for all ages. All of the arts programming and concerts are provided free of charge.
Programming and exhibitions are supported through membership as well as private and government grants and sponsors: Lake George Village, The Town of Lake George, The Alfred Z. Solomon Charitable Trust, the New York State Council on the Arts, The Glens Falls Foundation, 518 Magazine, Stewart’s Holiday Match, and The Walmart SparkGood Program.
For more information, please call 518-668-2616, follow The Lake George Arts Program on Facebook and Instagram, or visit their website.
See highlights from Jazz at the Lake in Lake George’s Shepard Park.
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ADK Talks Podcast
Learn more about the Courthouse Gallery and the Lake George Arts Project on a recent episode of ADK Talks podcast.
